St. Cloud Chamber Announces 2021 Business Award Winners

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce has announced this year’s business award winners.

Central McGowan owner Joe Francis is 2021 St. Cloud Area Small Business Owner of the Year.

Submitted by St. Cloud Chamber

Since becoming president/CEO in 2016, Francis has led the company through several expansions and acquisitions. He diversified the business from industrial gasses to include CO2 distribution to bars and restaurants, custom automation and robotics, and dry ice. And he has doubled the number of employees.

Francis always planned to take over the family business. He didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

Central McGowan has a long history in St. Cloud. Initially started in 1947 by Carl Shutan, Leo Henkemeyer purchased it in 1954.

Henkemeyer purchased McGowan Welding Supply in Little Falls a few years later, merging the name into Central McGowan.

Henkemeyer ran the business for many years before turning leadership over to a management team. Henkemeyer’s daughters had no interest in running the company, but all the family members agreed that Joe Francis, Henkemeyer’s grandson, would one day be in charge.

By the time he was 16, Francis was doing a variety of odd jobs at Central McGowan.

To begin the transition to family leadership, Francis’ parents, Cindy and Jeff, moved into leadership roles at Central McGowan, but in 2011 Jeff Francis passed away unexpectedly.

Cindy Francis and Joe, only a junior in college, briefly discussed selling the company, but both agreed that was an option they did not want to consider.

Cindy Francis stepped in as company CEO, and Joe Francis started to fast-track the family succession plan.

Jules’ Bistro Co-owner Donella Westphal is the 2021 Business Central Mark of Excellence-Woman in Business Champion.

“It’s an incredibly humbling honor. There is an incredibly strong network of female business owners in St. Cloud, and I feel so grateful to be a part of that. To keep company with those talented women and to be honored among them. I don’t know if there are words.”

Submitted by St. Cloud Chamber

Westphal told KNSI News that the award says more about the people she works with than her.

“For my team, it’s really a recognition of everything that they’ve accomplished. Because they actually do most of the work. Jules’ would not be successful without the talents and the hard work and the passion that they bring to the bistro every single day.”

Before running the Jule’s, Westphal ran a successful advertising agency out of her home and regularly met with clients at Jules’ Bistro in downtown St. Cloud.

When the owner of the bistro decided to sell the restaurant, she asked Westphal for help. By the time she arrived home, Westphal had told her husband, “I want to buy Jules’ Bistro.”

Even though she had no restaurant experience, Westphal managed to convince her husband and the bank that the decision was a good one.

After turning over her entire staff in the first three months, Westphal wasn’t so sure. She cut back on her agency work, learned every job in the restaurant, and did lots of cooking, serving, coaching, and mentoring.

It wasn’t long before she was purchasing the space next door to expand dining.

After only three years as owner, Westphal received financing to gut and remodel the existing kitchen and add a baking kitchen in the building’s basement.

The timing was not on her side. About halfway through the construction, COVID-19 hit, and the restaurant was shut down.

Westphal talked with her banker, who agreed to continue to finance the construction, and she forged ahead, taking advantage of the closure to finish the project.

An essential goal for Westphal is to create an environment where employees can make and build full lives for themselves and help people learn how to be part of a shared community.

Westphal’s unexpected career shift, company growth and expansion, successful survival of the pandemic, and support of women in business and the community have earned her the title.

Recently Jules’ reopened for breakfast and is now open 8 am to 8 pm Tuesday through Saturday.

The 2021 St. Cloud Area Entrepreneurial Success Award has been given to Brandl Motors Joe Sexton and Gary Posch.

Submitted by St. Cloud Chamber

The award is presented to a business that’s successfully grown from a small enterprise into a large company.

When Sexton and Posch heard that the Chrysler dealership in Pierz was for sale, they wanted to buy it. Though they both had worked in dealerships, they had no ownership experience.

Even so, Brandl Motors in Pierz was underperforming at such a level that the two men figured they couldn’t help but do better. Convincing a banker — and Chrysler — that they could do the job took a little more effort.

Sexton and Posch saw it as a challenge.

After six months of being pestered, Chrysler finally agreed to the deal. That was in 1999. They had 12 cars on the lot and five employees.

In 2003 they expanded into St. Cloud with used cars and a mobility department. Their mobility program provides financing for small dealers who sell mobility vehicles. Such vehicles are often hard to finance, and Sexton and Posch saw it as a nationwide opportunity. They were right. Today they do 70-100 contacts per month on mobility vehicles.

In 2005 they bought the Dodge dealership in Little Falls. They closed that site and the one in Pierz and combined them in their current location in Little Falls.

In 2008 they built and expanded into their current building, just in time for the Great Recession. They made it through those years without downsizing or laying off employees.

In 2018 they received an email asking them if they wanted “to buy my business.” “Who are you?” they asked. It turned out to be a dealership in Aitken.

The owner was required to upgrade his facility and hadn’t done it. Sexton and Posch agreed to a deal. The dealership was in worse condition than they realized, and for the first couple of years, it was a struggle but has since turned around.

Today Brandl Motors has three locations, about 220 employees, and sells about 2,500 units a year.

This steady growth, and successful response to adversity, earned them the 2021 St. Cloud Area Entrepreneurial Success Award.

Joe Francis, Donella Westphal, Joe Sexton, and Gary Posch will be honored at the annual Central Minnesota Business Awards Luncheon on June 3 at the Park Event Center in Waite Park.

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